Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show July 23rd 2009

Writer: Marlene Cowan - Photographer: Jerry Tomanek - Editor:  Jack Kelly

This Thursday's Program:  Jul 30 2009 Dr. Ellie Guardino Cancer Awareness

 
BUILDING GOOD WILL with the Four Way Test
 
PRESIDENT TRACIE opened the meeting with a rousing “Welcome” and thanked those who contributed specifically to today’s meeting. We were greeted today by the friendly smiles of MICHAEL STADLEN, BEVERLY TUCKER and one-week-new member ABBY (ABIGAIL) AHRENS. Photos were captured by our semi-pro photographer JERRY TOMANEK, and today’s Sergeants-at-Arms were STEVE POMEROY, FRANK VERLOT and MIKE ABRAMS. VAL CARPENTER thoughtfully quoted Helen Keller who, despite her severe handicaps, served to her capacity. Director JOHN CARDOZA reliably manned the cashier’s table.

SETH MANNING reminded us how lucky we are to have PRESIDENT TRACIE at the helm, so we (at least those old enough to remember the words) regaled her with a cheery, if off pitch, “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover”.

Director JOHN SYLVESTER passed a sign-up list for the year’s first social gathering: Wine and Nibbles at the home of JEAN MORDO. Each couple brings a bottle of wine or other beverage and a platter of appetizers, or should we say, hors-d’oeuvres, in keeping with JEAN’s French ambience.

FRANK VERLOT announced the next meeting of World Community Service (WCS) on Tuesday, Aug. 4 at 8 am in First Republic Bank.

VAL CARPENTER post-noted last week’s presentation by Special Projects Manager Dave Brees with the information that Los Altos’ updating plans will include under-grounding of utilities. PRESIDENT TRACIE reminded us that new LARC brochures are available at the cashier’s table.
 
BUILDING BETTER FRIENDSHIPS
 
Yet another new member was inducted into the club today by Membership Director JOHN CARDOZA who is sponsoring MICHAEL WELSH, a Program Manager at Sun Microsystems. Mike’s wife, Salli, is also a Rotarian. They have five children and are interested in gardening and travel (with or away from children?)

 
Red Badger BEVERLY TUCKER, also sponsored by JOHN CARDOZA, presented a delightful ten minute photo history of her youth and interests. Leaving the City of Saratoga to become Recreation Director for the City of Los Altos, she considers this a wonderful job allowing the use of her talents and personal interests in music, painting, and sports. Following her aero-space engineering father to the UK, her family always volunteered their services to the community without mentioning it, and she wasn’t even a Rotarian then. BEVERLY introduced photos of her grown son and of her best friend, Steve with whom she lives in Woodside. Did you know that BEVERLY has been a Hidden Villa docent for 10 years and can get you into the Banana Slug Club if you’ll kiss one and commit to protecting them forever? She has also raised over $12,000 for Leukemia research by participating in two Iron Man distance triathlons and has officiated at several weddings. BEVERLY is truly a woman of many talents!
 
BENEFICIAL FOUR WAY TEST RESULTS
 
PAST PRESIDENT BOO tweaked our brain power by teaching the Four Way Test with the “stacking method” of memorization. He asked us to visualize a big sign asking “True of False?” on top of which is a small banner announcing “State Fair”, topped by a Goodwill truck filled with smiling friends who are showered from above with $100 bills from Beneficial Finance Bank. Got it? Well, not everybody did, especially when invited to take the spotlight and recite the Four Way Test from memory. PAST PRESIDENT STEVE ANDERSON bravely volunteered to recite it, and was rewarded with $10, even after memory failed briefly. Given the chance to pass on the $10 to a next Four Way “reciter” of his choice, STEVE instead kept the bill (in order to be fair to all concerned, build good will and better friendships, and beneficially avoid putting another friend on the spot, right, Steve?) BOO still knows how to instruct while giving his audience a good laugh. By the way, we should all memorize the Four Way Test!
 

IS IT THE TRUTH?
 
Recognition Master KURT “It’s not about the money” HUEG quizzed us mercilessly on current events.

• KATHY BERRY, a USC mom who didn’t have time to attend USC football games, was fined for not knowing the “Dominance” fight song. To KURT’s delight, she opted to “just get it over with” and join the President’s Club immediately.
• MARY PROCHNOW offered $39 in honor of her daughter BAIDRA’s birthday.
• BAIDRA MURPHY later offered a fine plus $5 since she was born 5 weeks late.
• JOHN HAMMERSCHMIDT needed to know that Larry Ellison’s competition in the America’s Cup will be sponsored by the Golden Gate Yacht Club. With a little help from her friends
• JULIE ROSE remembered that NUMMI is a consortium of Toyota and GM.
• CLARI NOLET knew part of the answer, but JERRY TOMANEK came up with the full title of the top grossing movie last week: “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”.
• STEVE ANDERSON thanked BOO for the $10 Four Way Test reward that paid part of his fine today.
• SHIV SHASTRI was questioned about the planet receiving an impact the size of the Pacific Ocean. Answer: Jupiter.
• SCOTT RICHES admitted he had not read the latest “Rotarian” magazine and reminded us that the current President of Rotary International is JOHN KENNY of Scotland and that the next RI Convention will take place in Montreal.

PAUL NYBERG introduced today’s speaker Skip Vacarello, a Los Altos resident and CEO of Applied Weather Technology (AWT) in Sunnyvale. Who would have guessed that a program on maritime shipping would be so interesting and informative? We learned that 90% of the world’s freight is transported by sea, that $3 million dollars in fuel is burned annually by just one average ship, and that 3% of the world’s greenhouse gasses are produced by the shipping industry.

AWT routes ships along the oceans of the world and sells onboard software to improve ships’ fuel efficiency and on-time arrival. Vacarello informed us it’s the economy of China that drives the world’s shipping industry. AWT finds itself in a sometimes sensitive position between ship charterers who want on-time arrival with good fuel economy and the ship owners who benefit from longer transit times. The Baltic Dry Index, charting the cost to ship dry goods, is a leading indicator in the extreme volatility of maritime shipping costs. Accurate forecasting of resonance, or the rolling action of ships, can reduce the risk of hazardous containers falling into the sea near shore. Piracy is still a major risk, as $200 million in ransom has already been demanded in 2008-09. Avoiding “no go zones” and recommending longer routes around Africa rather than a five day shorter route via the Suez Canal could cost $20,000 to $80,000/day more in fuel but might reduce piracy. “The use of AWT route guidance,” our speaker concluded, “could save 450,000 metric tons of fuel annually and reduce CO2 emissions by 1.4 million tons, the equivalent of removing 320 cars off the roads.” This was a fascinating and informative program.
 

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